Traditional high-throughput screening (HTS) strategies searching for single targets have not led to a high number of promising leads for new drugs. Hence pharmaceutical companies are now increasingly looking for multi-target drugs to investigate. Dr E J Dell of BMG LABTECH explains how a next-generation photomultiplier- (PMT-) based instrument was compared to a high-performance charged coupled device (CCD), and how a next-generation HTS microplate reader provides a new more economical tool for finding lower affinity drug discovery compounds via traditional HTS bioassays.

The ever ageing global population has led to an increasing prevalence of protein misfolding diseases, which underlie a number of serious and chronic degenerative conditions. The misshapen structures of these abnormal proteins make them aggregation-prone, leading to the formation of toxic aggregates that underlie various disease pathologies. As the details of the science of this process continue to unfold, new therapeutic approaches to combat this fundamental mechanism of senescence are now emerging. Dr Mark Treherne, Chief Executive at Senexis, explains that as our understanding of the science underlying this fundamental pathological process continues to evolve, we will come ever closer to unfolding the fascinating science of protein senescence.

Scientists typically perform unbiased protein identification by directly coupling reversed-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) via electrospray ionisation to a mass spectrometer. Unlike innovations in mass spectrometric instrumentation, cutting-edge technology in reserved-phase HPLC has generally not been well adopted in drug discovery. Remco Swart at Thermo Fisher Scientific describes the effects of increased peak capacities on the number of identified proteins and peptides in complex mixtures utilising an RSLCnano LC system, providing a rationale for using advanced reversed-phase HPLC technology coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS).